Police seek shooting suspect

Jessup teen charged after wounding of two 17-year-olds in Savage

Howard County police are searching for a Jessup youth charged with shooting two acquaintances during an argument -- apparently the result of a feud -- late Friday in Savage.

The gunman fled on foot after the incident at 11: 39 p.m. in the 8800 block of Baltimore St.

Police issued a warrant yesterday for Andrew E. Scott, 16, of the 9200 block of Vollmerhausen Road in Jessup. Scott was charged as an adult with attempted murder, assault and weapons charges.

The suspect's mother, Antoinette Scott, 46 and also of the Vollmerhausen Road address, declined to comment.

Investigators said the victims were shot with a .25-caliber handgun. No weapon has been recovered.

Officials received a call from neighbors on Baltimore Street reporting five to seven gunshots. They saw a handful of young adults gathered around a man lying behind a car parked in a driveway.

One victim was shot four times -- twice in the shoulder, and once in the hand and the back, said Lt. Stephen M. Prozeralik, who is in charge of the department's criminal investigations unit. The other was shot once in the chest. Another bullet struck a truck tire, Prozeralik said.

"There was just a lot of screaming. It woke me right up," said Perry Phelps, 38, who lives across the street from the scene. "It happened really fast."

The second victim was staggering back and forth across the street before falling a few feet from the first wounded man, witnesses said.

"He walked over back to the other side of the street, said something to the guy lying on the ground and fell over," said Clifton Shipe, 48, whose driveway was bloodstained from the incident. "He either collapsed or sat down on the sidewalk."

Both victims are 17 years old, according to Howard County police who refused to release their names out of concern for their safety. Both victims were flown to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center. One was released yesterday.

"There is more developing in the case," said Lt. Pete D'Antuono, a southern district commander. "The suspect has not been apprehended."

Neighbors said they saw the gunman run behind a house on Baltimore Street and head north.

Officials are trying to determine a motive and whether the shooting was related to another in the Savage Mill neighborhood a month ago. No one was injured in that incident.

Friday's double shooting is the latest in a string of crimes that have occurred along the Baltimore Street corridor. In the 8900 block of Baltimore St., the WaWa Food Markets store has been robbed at gunpoint four times in the past four months. Before that, the store was hit by gunmen in August 1997.